The Lingering of a Racer
by KittyZozo3366
Summary: It is a brave and bold to get unplugged with your game, as your memories go with it. So when Sugar Rush Unlimited is brought from another arcade, what secrets does it hold? And will another menace to Game Central Station arise with it?
1. A Risky Roster Race

It was the end of another regular day at Litwak's FamilyFunCenter. Around the few other activities at the place, the arcade seemed to be at the center of everything. But that was not just for the patrons; there was also much going on after Mr. Litwak had closed up for the day. It all took place inside the arcade games and a power strip. Every night, all games did their own thing. Tapper's was used as a local bar for most characters, Fix-It Felix Jr. was cleaned up after a long day of wrecking, and both _Sugar Rush_s had a race each night to decide who would appear on the roster.

The sequel of the candy-colored game, _Sugar Rush Unlimited_, was about to have its Random Roster Race. Nine of the fifteen racers would win and get a spot on the board for tomorrow, while the others would relax at home for the day. Every racer got to their karts, Princess Vanellope Von Shweetz front and center. There were two who had to share a kart, though; they were Pep and Minty, twin mint-themed racers.

"C'mon, Pep," Minty pleaded with his female twin, "you've raced in the front all month. Can't you be my rear view for this month?" After-hours, the twins were the best drivers around. The advantage came from the two working together; one would drive while the other would announce incoming opponents from behind. Pep saw her brother as an eagle eye, but not the best on the track, considering he got distracted easily. But she was a good sibling, so she decided to make a deal.

"Alright," she handed her goggles to him. "You can race for the entire month…only if you win a spot on the roster. Sound good?" Minty took a moment to respond, but nodded. Pep gave a smile, climbing into the back seat. The other twin went into the drivers, and revved the engine happily.

"Is everyone ready?" Vanellope asked from the announcer's stand. All nodded or replied yes; Minty gave a thumbs-up. "Then…" the princess pulled a rope, revealing a slide. "Let the Random Roster Race commence!" She slid straight into her kart and a light flashed green. Everyone raced off, the princess taking a quick lead.

The karts in the lead swerved and swished as they went through GumballPass. Minty almost ran into a passing orb, but kept the kart right on track. Pep took a minute to glance back, and gasped.

"Malty's gaining on us!" She saw the milkshake racer's kart speeding up to get to it. Nearing the gap, Minty pressed a button to release some sticky green goo. It stopped the racer in her tracks right near the gap, and they headed up to Cakeway. As of now, Nougan De Carmillo was in the lead, and was able to use his special move. With a smirk, his kart let out three monolithic cinnamon rolls to go down the tiers of the cake, and smash everything in their way. The Peppermint Twins' cart was nearly crashed by it, Pep almost falling out of her back seat. Technically, it was just sitting on the back, and yeah, it was dangerous, but it worked.

Until now; Pep almost fell off, and that cracked Minty's coding, just enough that he knew he _had_ to win first place! As he glided through the Ice Cream Mountains, he noticed a "DANGER, NO ROAD" sign. Something clicked in his mind, which he had to dive through there in order to win. He swerved for it… just enough for his sister to be forced off.

"Hey, bro-whoa!" she exclaimed, but Minty was so determined to win, he didn't look back. She rolled and grabbed onto the edge of the slender track of ice cream. She looked down for a second, and couldn't see the ground it was so far down (not to mention the snowfall obscuring it.) She looked back up and cried out again. "Help!" This time, someone heard her cries. She heard a skid, and someone successfully pulled her up. It was Almonda, and she brought the troubled racer to her kart. They soon continued the race.

"Hey," Pep's rescuer said, "what happened back there?"

"Minty did; he swerved off road, and….didn't hear me."

"Well, that's just out of the ordinary…"

"Yes…." Almonda's words hit her. "Very. I just hope he's okay…"

Minty seemed to be in a dark, dark tunnel, if his kart were actually on solid ground and didn't seem to be falling. The only sound around him was wind hissing, until the vehicle finally landed on road; he was parallel to the Rainbow Road, and back in the race! The little lane he was now driving on seemed to connect to the candy-colored track, not only guaranteeing him a place on the roster, but first!

**_PSSH! _**Minty realized he had _just _hit the person he was going to out-do for first place, _Princess Vanellope! _He tried to stop it, but his break seemed to be jammed glimpsed over the combined carts to see they were quickly approaching a fork in the track. He swiftly got out of his seat and grabbed his car's antenna, using it as a grip to save the ruler.

"Get out!" he shouted, "we're gonna crash!" Vanellope gave a look of desperation, as if there was no other way.

"What're you, crazy?!" He extended the car antenna to her, expecting her to reach for it.

"I need you to grab! There isn't much time!" She gripped onto it, but she took one last out of the Royal Racer. He sighed, "You know, you're stubbornness isn't gonna make this work!" With one final pull, he pulled her in, flinging himself to the "back seat." With the princess now driving the Double Mint Dragster, she swerved it to the left, giving them a path out. Unfortunately, this left the Royal Racer to be crashed by the fork. The ruler looked longingly back for only a moment.

"My racer…." she whimpered, only for Minty to point foreword.

"Keep focused, your highness; I'll fix it up for you once we cross the finish." The two were first place when they crossed. But, since it was Minty's kart that went across, only the twins' avatar appeared. Other racers went by, filling the second, third, fourth and fifth places. It was Almonda, along with Pep that rolled into sixth.

"Minty!" Pep hopped out as the kart swept past the finish. She gave a hug to her brother, leaving him perplexed; wasn't she upset over what happened? "I'm so glad you got in today's races! Not only that, you made first!"

"You have me to thank for that," Vanellope declared from the driver's seat. Pep immediately took notice of her ruler's presence.

"Oh! Princess! We…um….saw you're kart back there. Will you be okay not being in the roster race?" She noticed the last three spots had been filled.

"You should just be happy Minty saved me. You're brother's a hero. However," Minty gulped as both girls shot him stern looks. "I am very disappointed in what he did to win the race. He almost _killed_ me and _both_ of you _will_ help fix up my kart." The princess left without another word. The two siblings looked at one another, then to the Ice Cream Mountains, and sighed.

"Well, brother," Pep patted Minty on the back, "you won the race. I guess the only direction from here…is up."

It was a long hike up to the Ice Cream Mountains and even more to the tunnel where the Royal Racer was wrecked. The twins, both their toolboxes in tow, started straight to work. They turned the kart back from its side, and spun the detached wheels into place. Pep put herself in charge of checking the inner workings, and Minty checked the steering. As they repaired, Pep saw an opportunity to get much-needed answers.

"Hey, Minty…"

"Hmm?" He looked up from checking the dials.

"How come you were so focused on winning that you forgot about me? Not to sound mean or anything, but sometimes you're just so…scatterbrained." She waited for him to respond; nothing. She looked up to see him fumbling around with some buttons on the dash. She snapped at him, a bit irked from recent events. "MINTY!"

"What? Oh, well…I guess I finally put my mind to doing it. But, uh, to be honest, I dunno what came over me."

"Y-yeah, you definitely weren't yourself out there."

"Wait, 'wasn't myself'? Then, who was I?!" Pep sighed and rolled her eyes. She also saw her brother as a bit literal-minded as well as scatterbrained.

"Minty, it's just an expression. I'm sure you were just in the heat of the moment and determined to win." She gave a tightening to some loose gears inside and delicately closed up the hood. "That should just about do it. Now, come on, let's get this thing back to the castle."  
"I'll drive!" Minty gave a spirited rev of the engines. Pep hastily moved from the front of the kart, to ensure no more injuries today.

"N-no!" she butted in and placed a hand on the wheel. Minty glared at her, almost as if he wasn't happy with her taking over. But she gave her reasons. "I don't want to get too rusty this month. After all, you'll be driving for me!" His expression turned back to a happy and self-satisfied smirk as he let his hand off and scooted over to make room for her. Pep got in and drove to the princess' SugarCubeCastle. Positive as she was in the driver's seat, all that faded away when she looked back to her brother.


	2. The Anniversary

The Peppermint Twins went to their cupcake home in their dragster afterwards. Pep drove again, but she could see the longing in her brother's eyes to drive. They soon got out once they reached the little valley that served as a residential area. The girl driving spotted her rescuer from earlier, Almonda, and gave a cheery wave. The two got out and Pep came over to the Almond Joy racer.

"Hey!" Pep gave a greeting. "I'm sorry for not thanking you earlier. You saved my life, and I feel I should repay you."

"Actually…" Almonda remembered something as she spoke, "you may have to put that off until later. I have something for you."

"What is it?"

"Remember how I'm studying as a medic under that guy from the RPG?" Almonda had decided she wanted those who became injured on the racetrack shortly after they were plugged in. The RPG cabinet, _Eons of Adventure, _had many taken out elements in the arcade release, and that included classes. One of the medics that weren't included in the arcade version was happy to help her learn.

"Yeah, what about it?" The almond racer pulled out a dusty old tome from behind her back. The cover was decorated with a strange language. She explained, "The medic has a friend who is a beast hunter. I told him about you and he gave me this book about his finds. The front reads, 'Creatures.'"

"Cool!" Pep didn't wait another second to start digging through it. She noticed the monsters were labeled by what game they were from, most being from the home game, _Eons of Adventure. _"Thanks, Almonda!" She couldn't wait to show her brother, and dashed off for him.

"Any time!" Almonda exclaimed and gave a wave good-bye. Pep went back to her little cupcake house. It was a bit bigger on the inside, but considering this was a video game, what structure wasn't these days? Minty was lounging on a nearby bed, and looked to see the tome in Pep's hands.

"What have you got there?" Minty pointed to the book. Pep blew the remaining dust off and hopped into her own bed, a large grin across her face.

"Almonda gave me this book on all these cool monsters." Ever since her arrival, Pep had been fascinated by the history of Game Central Station, and asked if there were any monsters around. Most characters directed her to the local RPG game, but some told of another monster: Turbo, self-proclaimed greatest racer ever. They also warned her about game-jumping, but she shrugged it off, eager to explore the place.

She skimmed through the book again, and her eyes landed on a peculiar page. The ink markings seemed hurried and frantic; unlike the front cover, it was written in English, something Pep could understand. The pictures covering the right page seemed like the stuff of nightmares, and the writings on the left confirmed it.

"Hey, look!" She pointed to the page with the drawings and Minty came over to see. Pep started to read the entry on the left. "'This is a monster I have found only in my dreams. It plagues me to no end, saying it has an undying hunger. It tries to capture me with its bug-like appendages, even though I seem faster. Though it is just a nightmare, I have reason to believe this creature exists in the reality of Game Central Station.'" She let out a gasp and looked to her brother, eyes wide and bright. "Minty, do you realize what this means?"

"That the author is spiraling into insanity?" Minty reached over to the faded pages, but Pep slammed the book shut.

"No, it means something may be afoot in Game Central Station! There could be monsters everywhere we don't even know about." Her brother gave a look of indifference towards the whole thing.

"You know, he mentioned something about 'bug-like appendages.' Maybe it could be a cy-bug from _Hero's Duty?_"

"Yeah, but no one goes to Hero's Duty…." He thought a moment, and then frowned. "Unless some of the cy-bugs that escaped before we came here are still alive."

"And judging by the size entry on there, this was no normality among them. This was a cross-breed: a live animal mixed with a cy-bug. We only know of one from Sugar Rush."

"Turbo." the twins came to the answer simultaneously. Minty went back over to his bed as Pep turned back to the hurried illustrations. She asked her brother as she studied them again, "Do you wonder if he survived his return?"

"Doubt it," Minty mumbled as he closed his eyes. "You heard it straight from the horse's mouth." The "horse" in this case was Sergeant Calhoun. She had shot down the beast once he had returned, and was willing to tell anyone the tale. "That thing is dead; all it left was a napkin, or so she said."

"Yeah, but he was a powerful virus. There-there's no way to get rid of those once they spread, right?"

"I dunno," Minty let out a final yawn, and was soon asleep. Pep noticed this and placed the book under her bed, ready for sleep as well. With one clap, the lights went out.

_ The lights flashed on; it was another round of the splendid 80's racing game_ Turbo Time. _It was nearing twenty years of being plugged in at this particular arcade. The main character never lost his sense of the thrills. Considering this was one of the first games with a randomizer, every level except the first three was a new experience. And after every three levels, it showed our hero, Turbo, rubbing another shiny new trophy in his rivals, the Twins' face. This was all of course, for theatrics._

_ "The arcade's closed!" some character shouted from a game viewing the entrance. The racer hopped down from the winner's platform, the twin racers by his side. One of them looked at the trophy in curiosity, and a question mark appeared above his head._

_ "What?" Turbo asked in response. "No, I'm not gonna throw it with the others!" The racer, earning so many trophies, had made quite the pile behind the main stands. Of course, the player would see these if the game were to ever hit a "kill-screen." The other twin had a question mark appear over his head, and started to sign something out._

_"E-N-G," Turbo said the symbols out loud and soon knew what the twin was spelling. He scoffed, "Of course I'm gonna engrave it. Remember this one, boys." The hero held his trophy high with both hands. The light coming in from the arcade gave Turbo and his trophy an almost heavenly glow. "This is an anniversary trophy, and more importantly, it's my anniversary trophy. Alright, now to put this thing with the others." After the little ritual, Turbo decided to put it with the others. Behind another stand, he made a little sandlot where the three of them could play around and just be themselves. There were little cars lying around, sand castles built, and a little stack of trophies the great racer had deemed "special."_

_ Turbo picked up a crude piece of car metal, and started to etch something into the trophy. When he was done, the twins looked it over. It read "20__th__ Anniversary"; all three smiled in satisfaction. He put it with the others and patted his rival racers on the back. "C'mon, boys; I'm sure there's a party for us waiting at the station. After all, we were plugged in here the longest!" The trio sprinted down the walkway, which led them to the arcade's station._

_ "Happy anniversary, Turbo!" The racer was proud to hear that exclamation from some characters as the game's only three characters walked out of the terminal. Chef Kawasaki came up to him, holding a cake in his hands. Turbo wasn't afraid to reach out for it. "For me?"_

_ "Well, all the characters' from Kirby just begged me to make you one," he explained. "After all, you have been here since the arcade's opening! It's really an honor!"_

_ "Eh, it's nothin'," he sounded almost humble as Kawasaki put the cake into his own hands._

_ "All of your friends, spearheaded by me, wanted to set up a party at your game." The racer actually despised that idea, though he'd never tell it to the chef's face. Every day he could get away from the simply-decorated game, not because he hated racing, but because the plainness got dull after twenty years. He made a little cringe, but Chef Kawasaki didn't notice._

_ "Well, don't ya think the DDR machine would be a better place to host a party?" He rubbed his neck nervously, but relaxed when he saw the chef nod._

_ "That sounds great, Turbo! Tell you what: I'll round up some of your other friends and we'll decorate DDR for you. But…we'll need the cake back for everyone else." The racer's stomach made a grumble in protest._

_ "I have a better idea: I'll prepare the party myself. You can invite my friends yourself, and maybe even get that adorable pink protagonist o' yours to help. No one can resist Kirby!" Kawasaki paused to think, but looked to Turbo's stomach._

_ "You just want that cake, don't you?"_

_ "Yeah, a little," he muttered sheepishly._

_ "Well, it sounds good anyway!" Chef Kawasaki began to run off. "And don't worry, I'll get Kirby to help!" The racer gave a wave, the cake still in his hands. He turned to the twins._

_ "Alright guys, ready to help make this the best anniversary ever?" The two looked to each other, and then nodded. Both gave a thumbs-up. "Great; now to make the DDR machine_ **_TURBO-TASTIC!_**"

_ "Thanks for supplying stuff for the party, Yuni." Turbo looked around the place as the twins and other DDR characters set up. It was just how he had pictured it; food to the side, banner in front, and the dance floor plum in the middle. He could feel it would be the perfect party setting._

_ "No problem, Turbo," she said with a smile. "I just wish you'd told me sooner. The dancers are kinda bothered about it." She pointed over her back to two characters from the game that were standing in a corner. They both looked angry as others actually helped._

_ "Heh, let 'em get annoyed. They'll have they're dance floor back once the party gets started!" All the levels of DDR were connected by a hallway and doors, each door stating the stage's name. This was the "Disco Room," and soon another character came in. It was Chef Kawasaki and Kirby, with about thirty assorted characters behind them._

_ "Hey, Turbo, I brought the party!" the chef exclaimed. The two blocking the door quickly moved out of the way and guests rushed in to every corner of the room. Yuni gasped, "Wow! I didn't realize you guys had this many fans!" She looked to Turbo and the twins, now by the hero's side. The trio gave big, yellow grins of pride._

_ "What can I say?" the main racer chuckled, keeping his grin. "I'm a superstar!" Music started and most headed for the vibrant dance floor. The two dancers from before warmed up to the scene, and soon, they took center stage. Turbo, still hungry from earlier, went over to the cake. Kawasaki came over to him._

_ "You like all this, Turbo?" As he went for some chips, he could only nod since his mouth was full. Once he swallowed them, he added, "Oh, yeah, it's really fun to be proud of somethin' you made yerself." The racer took a lemonade cup to wash the salty chips down._

_ "Really?" Once he gulped down the lemonade, he explained, "Of course. 'Specially if someone else can share that somethin' with you. Like, um, your food, for example. I'm sure the people of Dreamland enjoy it?"_

_ "Well, of course!" he nearly shouted. "I provide all the food for all of Dreamland, _especially_ Kirby!" The cute pink ball seemed to hear his name, as he was now by the table. He looked to the cake with an adorable grin and looked like he was about to inhale it. Turbo immediately covered it with his hands, careful not to smudge the edges._

_ "Hey! Hands off, Kirby! This has MY name on it!" It did indeed, in red icing, but the pink hero didn't seem to mind. He inhaled, but he was only successful in sucking Turbo's helmet. The grey-skinned racer had bushy black hair underneath. Kirby swallowed down, having the helmet appear on his head. His skin also turned grey, bags around his eyes._

_ "I think you've made a perfect copy," Turbo laughed. But his smile quickly turned to a frown. "I need my helmet back by mornin', though." Kirby gave a gentle nod and ran off. The racer got off of his cake only to stare hungrily at it again. It didn't take long before he cut the cake for himself and the chef. With a fork, he ate a part of a corner piece. _

_ "Oh, man, this cake is delicious!" he said with a semi-stuffed mouth. He turned to the crowd on the dance floor, and was able to shout over all of them. "Hey, everybody! I'll cut you all some cake!" Half of the dancers came over and made a line as the racer hurried to slice up the cake. He gave a smile with every slice; this party wasn't just for him, it was for all of the characters at this arcade._


	3. Blacked Out

Minty woke up, a bit dazed; he was not a morning person, even though his twin was. Speaking of Pep, where was she? He looked over to the bed, bleary-eyed, but found she wasn't there. The door to the small home flew open, only to reveal Pep had opened it.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" she greeted in an excited tone that almost seemed out of character. "Wow, I'm surprised you've gotten up this early."

"What…" Minty let out a yawn, "What time is it anyway?"

"9 o'clock in the morning. The arcade's gonna open in an hour. You usually sleep until the last minute." She handed him a pair of goggles, which he lazily strapped on his head. "You can get ready on the way, my racing bro." Minty somehow remembered something from his sleep, something about racing. In his semi-conscious state, he tried to tell his sister.

"I hadda dream…." he muttered, "We were at a party…" Pep obviously saw he was too tired to walk, or even think straight, so she helped him walk to the door and outside.

"That's great, bro," she tried to keep up a conversation with him. "It was probably 'bout the party we had after defeating Turbo…" Something about that word made Minty seem to come fully awake. Pep gave a little smile, even though she didn't make the connection. "Now, c'mon, you've got a whole month of racing ahead of you!" He gave a weak groan; he loved racing, but getting up early, not so much. At least video game characters didn't have to sleep every night.

Litwak's FamilyFunCenter was the perfect place to get away from the rising heat. The arcade kept the air conditioning cranked up as sweaty customers came in. This flood of customers seemed to stop around noon, when the power went out. Everything was calm as Mr. Litwak instructed is patrons to stay inside until the power came back on.

For the video game world, however, a blackout was chaos. The sprites were forced to stay frozen until the charge that gave them life came back. They would have no memory of this, but it was still alarming to see things move in the outside world without you. Well, maybe one character _would _have some memory of this: Minty of _Sugar Rush Unlimited. _

The system was being used by a young boy when the power went out. The boy chose Monty Ray Jack, but Minty was still on the track as an NPC. The blackout happened as he and other racers were spiraling up Cakeway. Like his last race, something seemed to spark from this event: another distant memory of everything going dark.

_The turns were familiar, and yet unfamiliar as Turbo sped down the third level of Stage Three. It seemed like another track from before, but that was impossible! The randomizer would never do that….would it? Come to think of it, a lot of things seemed to be running on fumes since the cabinet had reached its twenty-year mark. The cars seemed slower, the audio seemed defunct (well, it already was), and the lights were….flickering? No, that's not right at all._

_ Outside, one nostalgic adult was trying the game out. All of a sudden, the screen seemed to flicker. She shrugged it off and continued to play, until the screen went out completely. The woman yelled over to the owner, "Hey, Mister McKinley! Something's wrong with the Turbo Time!_

_ Turbo had won another trophy, the mark of the clearance of three stages, when the track's lights all powered down. All three racers looked in confusion. Everything was going normal, but now, the player couldn't see them. Turbo, as the main character and leader thought quickly: _Should we just go on with business? _But he didn't come to a solution quick enough. The white "Out of Order" sign was placed over the machine's screen, and they heard the owner talk about "seeing if he could fix it manually."_

_All three of them got down from their podiums, dejected. The twins looked to at Turbo, worried. One put two fists beside each other, and pulled one away. Were they as good as unplugged?_

_ "Boys, boys, I know as much as you do that our system's got a little…rust around its edges, but we're still gonna go on with our lives. Ol' Peter can fix the system; we've seen him do it with others many times before. But for now, we have the day off!" He flashed a yellow-toothed grin. "We should enjoy it! Even though we'd all rather be out there, right?" The twins nodded. All three of them loved to race more than anything, win or lose. "Good! Now let's go to the station!" Turbo now took a pause from his speech, his grin turning to a frown. "But…if Pete can't fix it….bring the special trophies. We need mementos." _

_"Are you absolutely sure that the cabinet can't be repaired?" Peter, the owner of the arcade, looked around nervously. His eyes then fell to his regular repair man. Someone who could fix arcade cabinets and game systems was hard to find these days, but Peter had his ways._

_ "I'm sorry, but the lights on the screen are so old, I don't think I'd find a replacement," he explained, putting the cabinet back in order as much as he could. Peter heard a sobbing in the back of his head. Actually, it was the DDR cabinet not too far away. Turbo and the twins had watched the whole scene unfold. To them, watching their cabinet and its attempts to be repaired was like a medical soap opera. Peter sighed as the repairman started to leave, "I'll have to unplug this tonight. It's sad to see it go…"_

_ Yuni watched on the demo screen as well, and got on one knee to comfort them. "Guys, I'm sorry. I-I never thought it would happen to you…"_

_ "It's not yer fault, Yuni," Turbo replied._

_ "Do you want to go with your system?" The racer blinked for a moment. He had seen many a character go with their systems once they got unplugged. It was a symbol of pride for your game; while Turbo was still a prideful racer, but he wasn't stupid._

_ "Nah, I don't really see much glory in it, considering you lose your memories when you pull the plug. Besides, we took most of the things that we needed out; our trophies, toys, the twins…" The two mentioned gave a growl at that last one._

_ "What about your karts?" The words hit the three racers faster than their own cars. It was even worse as they realized that Peter was going to unplug it when the arcade closed, which was only in five minutes! All three racers rushed to the exit of the DDR game, a monorail, and jumped right on it when it came. They hurried to the Turbo Time terminal, only to see it spark as it was pulled out of place._

_ "No, no, no, no, no!" Turbo screamed, alerting the few characters there of the game's unplugging. "__**NOOOOO!**__" He let out another screech as he tried to jump for the loose plug. One of the twins stopped him from going into the code-less void. The hero, after he caught his breath, replied to the twin. "Th-thank you, I dunno what came over me. It's just….life seems nothin' without racing, you know? It's in my programming to race, and without that…." He sighed, "I'm just a nobody."_

_ The rest of the night had an aura of unhappiness and unrest. Turbo wanted to drive around so bad! Being the only racing game, it had been twelve hours since he last drove around in that red and white racecar. But, he tried to get his mind off it. Unfortunately, all of his friends shared his melancholy mood. It was strange to see the Turbo Time cabinet not there, since all other games had been plugged in after it. _

_ When morning came, all characters headed to their assigned games, all except Turbo. The three characters from the unplugged game sat on a bench, waiting for someone to come by. But no one did, as expected; not even the Surge Protector questioned them. As they waited, the twins got drowsy and fell asleep in Turbo's lap. The hero chuckled, "Don't worry, boys; I'll keep you safe…"_

The arcade's power was restored no more than an hour later. Well, it felt longer than that to Minty. Gaining memories while unconscious was odd to anyone, and finding yourself back at the starting line was even odder. The game had….somewhat reset itself, just to make sure no one got hurt. Minty checked his surroundings, and saw Pep on the sidelines. Without another thought, he ran; he just had to tell her what happened.

"Pep!" he exclaimed, grabbing his twin's attention. "The strangest thing just happened to me."

"Yeah, we had a blackout," she stated. "That was strange."

"No, no, I had dreams about _Turbo._" Pep gasped, and turned to the podium, where the princess now was. She shouted, "Princess Vanellope! We need a day off." She nodded, and the twins were out of sight by the time she got down.


	4. Time Off

The way back to home was ridden in silence. Pep drove this time, and Minty was afraid to tell his sister more. When the two got to the little village, Pep took tight to her twin's hand and nearly dragged him to their house. Fortunately, he followed willingly. The few racers that weren't on the roster were surprised to see the twins here, but neither of them paid heed to any greeting they gave. When Pep and Minty got to their house, she took her brother and sat him on the bed.

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Pep said to him. "You had a vision of…" She was afraid to say the dreaded name, "Turbo, when the power went out." Minty took a minute to respond, but nodded.

"And I had a dream last night about his game," Minty added. "That's what I was trying to tell you." His sister turned away from him, and he heard a long-winded sigh from her. He got up and looked at her; she had her head buried in her hands, but he could see a visible cringe underneath all that. He let out a little sigh of his own. "I'm sorry, I dunno what's come over me recently…"

"It's not your fault." Pep lifted her face out of her hands and turned to her twin; she was still visibly upset. "You have no control over your dreams, and I forgive you for the incident during the roster race. You're my brother, and I love you no matter how forgetful and scatterbrained you are." Pep hugged Minty, and he soon hugged back.

"And don't worry," he reassured her, "you'll always be a sister to me too!" The two looked to each other, both smiling. But Pep noticed her twin's seemed a bit forced; he needed to get his mind off of things, she could tell. She went to her bed and picked up the monster book from underneath her pillow.

"Do you want to go monster hunting? We can chart down our finds in the book." Minty showed he wasn't interested by staring at her, then the book, and then simply shaking his head. She coaxed, "It'll get your mind off of Turbo."

"Oh, alright." He smiled sheepishly and opened the door for his sister. "But after this, you're doing some knitting with me." While Pep loved exploring and searching for monsters, Minty enjoyed being laid back and knitting. She gave a fake groan, then a real laugh, and soon, the twins were out the door, sprinting towards the CandyCaneForest.

It was a very neat and orderly wood, the racetrack right by and a few tracks over in the distance. If you climbed some of the trees to the very top, the view would be breathtaking, not to mention high-definition. Pep pointed to a tree and asked, "You want to race to the top?" Minty gave an eager nod, and was already making his way to the top. "Hey, no fair!" His sister put the book down and climbed up, making her way faster. It helped she had climbed these trees many times before. She passed by, and Minty was desperate to catch up. He grabbed a hold on another branch, only to find it was a double stripe.

"Wah!" he screeched, and Pep saw him fall down. Luckily, he landed on a nearby branch. His sister laughed, "And to think, I thought you would beat me." He started to climb back up as she finally reached the top branch. Pep yelled down, "Hey! Come up here! The view is great!" Minty hurried up to look at the same spectacular view. He could see for miles, and considering this was one of the tallest trees, there was barely nothing blocking it. He saw rolling racetracks to his left, which cut through frosty mountains and taffy swamps. To the right, there was a race on the main track going on. He watched as the karts leapt out of GumballPass, went through the road near the forest, and up and around Cakeway. Pep looked to the right and cheered the other racers from afar, but Minty was completely mesmerized.

"I wish I was out there…" he said breathlessly. He felt a tug on the sleeve of his sweater. He turned to see Pep.

"Well, I think you really need to get your mind off of racing," she explained her reasons for pulling him from the race. "Especially when you're starting to follow in the footsteps of the 'greatest racer ever.'" He gave a shudder at the thought; she had a good point. Pep started to climb down, and Minty followed her downwards. Once they were at the base of the tree, the twins walked further into the woods until they came to a split in the wood. Pep started to walk down the left path, but something stopped her. It was Minty, firmly putting a hand on her white vest.

"You shouldn't go down that path," he explained. "It's a trap that leads straight to the taffy swamps. You wouldn't know that 'til you've been down there."

"But you haven't been down there," she replied. "In fact, this is your first time out here since we've been plugged in." Curious, Pep headed down the road, and sure enough, it led to a deep swamp, Laffy Taffy vines above. Minty followed along, only to be astounded that his statement was correct! Pep looked to her brother and frowned. "Maybe we should just lay back and do some knitting, like you said."

When they went back to the tree they'd climbed, a forgetful Pep picked her book back up. Soon, the twins were home. Minty took out his knitting kit and began to sew up some new sweaters. It was his goal to make a sweater for each racer in _Sugar Rush Unlimited. _Right now, he was making one for Tartley. Pep continued to look through the book of monsters for any different video games' fearsome creatures. Through the windows of their house, they saw racers running by, going home for the day. It was then both twins decided to go to bed.

"Good night," Minty said as he threw a sheet over himself.

"Don't let the Turbugs bite," Pep laughed, but her brother didn't hear her; he was already asleep. She sighed, "Hopefully, it won't be a long night for you…" With two claps, the lights went out.

_"It's been five years._

_ Five._

_ Stinkin'._

_ Years." Turbo took a pause through every word just to emphasize his point. The twins eyed him nervously. They had watched as he had slowly gone into a downward spiral of insanity and depression after they'd left their karts in the unplugged game. Sure, he had his happy moments, but they were few and far between. Still, they continued to listen to the racer's ranting._

_ "Peter should've plugged in a racing game by now. He loves those things, and that stupid Mario Kart doesn't even count! Oh, that guy's got a dozen spin-offs and no integrity! Why I'd-!"He felt something, a shock, go through his system. It was likely the twins and the Surge Protector felt it too. He didn't hesitate to turn around, because he knew what it meant; a new game had been plugged in._

_ He stood, mouth agape, at what he saw. He had heard stories of this game, but he thought it was just a rumor that it was going to be here. It was _Sugar Rush Unlimited, _a sequel to some game from the 90's. He gave a smirk, and felt one of the twins put a hand on his right shoulder._

_ "Yep, it looks like we're gonna get our karts back." The main racer looked back to them, only to find them mouthing "No" and shaking their heads. The hero gave a growl and started to make his way to the new game. "Well, fine then. I'll go on my own. I might even get unplugged with 'em and leave you two losers behind!" The twins staggered back, hurt by his words. The term "loser" in _Turbo Time_ was a most grievous insult, but even if they lost a race, Turbo never used it on the twins directly before._

_ The way to _Sugar Rush Unlimited _was a walkway down, just like every other racing game he had been to. Well, _Turbo Time_, at least. Turbo stood took a look over the game for at least a minute, but it seemed like more. There was every color of the spectrum, it seemed in this game, from sugar-coated whites to licorice-made blacks. There were tracks almost in every direction, and one that went around most of the land. It was every racer's dream, and Turbo was about to live it._

_ But first, he'd have to get used to this very different land. As he descended down the Rainbow Bridge, and went through the various areas, he figured he shouldn't try to get spotted. Though he didn't know it, the racers were having their first Random Roster Race. He went through a small village that was being set up, through some lollipop fields, and then came to a beautiful forest of candy canes. Not far from it, he noticed some taffy swamps. After some wandering, he came to a split in the path. He went down the left road, and found it came to a deep swamp area, some sort of vines hanging above. He saw a thick log and walked across it._

_ Unfortunately, it was a double stripe, and without him knowing, it disappeared right from under his feet. Now, being stuck in taffy or a swamp is bad enough. It's even worse when you don't know how to swim. Turbo tried to keep himself up for as long as he could, crying, "Help! Help!" to no avail. He tried to jump up to the branches, but the taffy was so thick it was useless._

_ "Did someone call for help!?" a polite voice asked. The racer looked up to see a young girl sporting a ponytail and a short turquoise dress. He waved his arms, but his conflicting color scheme already made him noticeable._

_ "Y-yes!" he stammered. "P-please help me!" She quickly nodded and fearlessly grabbed a hold on a Laffy Taffy vine. It gave a giggle as it extended under her weight. She held out a hand, and he grabbed it up. She yanked the vine again, and it sent them back up to the top._

_ "Okay…" the girl muttered to herself, "just need to swing over…and we'll jump." Turbo nodded so she knew he agreed. She started to make the vine swing. "Okay, one…_

_ The vine was gaining more energy. "Two…_

_ They were very close to the other side. "Three!" Both of them jumped, and tumbled onto safe and solid ground. Turbo looked and turned to her. Closer to her, he noticed candy in her black hair. She was also wearing a tiara._

_ "Are you royalty?" She nodded, and after catching her breath, answered him._

_ "I am Princess Vanellope Von Shweetz."_


	5. Locked Memories

_ Princess Vanellope took the foreign racer to the castle. She wanted to help him further by cleaning off his taffy-stained clothes. He stayed silent until they got to her castle, since he didn't want himself to seem like some ruthless invader. She smiled as Sour Bill brought towels so she could clean him off._

_"Ugh, will it stain?" Turbo asked as he looked at the sweet and sticky goo, disgusted. The princess nearly laughed at him, and started to clean off the candy for him._

_ "No, taffy doesn't usually leave any stain. It comes right out, but like gum, could leave permanent stains if you were to try and wash it out."_

_ "Wow, you sure know a lot about candy."_

_ "I'm supposed to. How could you rule over a whole kingdom made of the stuff if you didn't?" Both laughed this time, and Vanellope scrubbed the last of the taffy mess off. "There, your jumpsuit is as good as new!" She paused for a moment, and then realized something; she hadn't caught the racer's name. "So where are you from?"_

_"I'm Turbo, from the game of the same name."_

_"Ah, I think I've heard of you. Our company, Tobikomi, made you as a cameo racer in Sugar Rush 2. That was released five years ago." Turbo blinked in surprise, and gave a little prideful smirk._

_ "Wow. I knew I was popular, but not _that _popular. In fact, I think my popularity may have decreased a bit as of late." He gave a heavy sigh, and frowned. The princess didn't know what was wrong, but tried to comfort him._

_ "Now why would you say that?" She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure whatever happened couldn't be that bad."_

_"Well…my cabinet got unplugged about 5 years ago." Vanellope let out a gasp, taking her hand off of him. She didn't know it was something that dire. "You've been the only racing game since. I left my kart in the game…like an idiot. I should've just left my trophies behind. I-I didn't think I'd get unplugged so quickly. I thought…" He realized he was ranting, and got back to his main point. "Anyway, I need a kart from here. Do ya know if I could get one?"_

_ The princess frowned at this. "I'm sorry, Turbo, but I don't think there's any way I could get you one. Our karts are all pre-programmed to the racer, and the kart factory was torn out of the original game to make room for more tracks. Our racers could lend you one after the races our over, but there's no other way."_

_ The foreign racer's heart sank. This was his one chance, in five years, to race, and it blew up in his face. Those racers were probably as prideful of their karts as he was of…well, everything that involved him. Maybe…if they were like that…he could easily pose as one…he was sure Vanellope wouldn't mind. He was so busy moping and planning to realize that the princess wasn't there any longer. This gave him time, to search…_

Pep awoke to hear a thump; something had landed on the floor. More specifically, it was Minty, and he was sleepwalking. She watched as he wandered around, turning a few of Pep's little trinkets over. He was muttering incoherently; the only word she could make out was "code." Pep got up out of bed and shook her brother's shoulder. He let out a yell, and was suddenly awake.

"What was that for?!" Minty shouted at whoever it was behind him. They let out a sigh that he recognized as his sister.

"You were walking around, saying something about 'code,'" she explained.

"It was part of my dream…" he muttered, still groggy from just waking up. But once he realized what happened in his dream, he straightened up. He turned to Pep, grabbing her shoulders. "We were plugged in at another arcade."

"Wh-what? Was that what your dream was about?" He heard a little laugh under her breath.

"Pep, you gotta believe me! We were plugged in at an arcade! And the Turbo I've been dreaming about is different. He's from the other arcade." Pep doubted him, but at the same time was curious. She'd always wanted some mystery to solve, and this was a big one: Why was Minty having dreams about Turbo, and some other arcade? If they didn't figure out why, it might not only affect him, but also herself! Luckily, there might have been a solution.

"I have an idea of someone who could help us," Pep stated.

"Who are you thinking of?" Minty asked with a smile. He was happy there might be a solution to this growing problem.

"You know Cheri, right? She's always getting her nose into other people's business. I bet she'd know something about this…"

"And if she doesn't?"

"She'll probably tell us about someone who can help us. She has friends in high places." There was no time to lose. They ran right out the door and looked up over Candy Hollow for the right kart. Their eyes landed on the Cherriot, Cheri's prized pie-shaped kart. The owner was right next to it, making some repairs before the daily races. Minty waved at her.

"Hey, Cheri!" he shouted. It certainly got her attention. Pep sighed, and dragged him out of the valley so they could talk to her. Once they got to the cherry pie kart, she finally greeted them.

"Hey, guys." She turned to Minty first. "I heard you got pulled out of the races. What was going on?" The twins frowned, looked to each other, then back to Cheri.

"Cheri, we know you always want to know what's going on at the arcade," Pep explained, "but we were wondering if you knew about something that happened _outside _this particular arcade."

"You mean, like, in the human world?"

"No, no," Minty answered. "I've been starting to recall things that had happened in another arcade, before we came to Litwak's." He was careful not to mention he had seen it all from Turbo's perspective. Though it was a different version of the same character, it didn't change the bad connotation his name had around Game Central Station. He asked, "Do you know anything about that?" Cheri seemed to be thinking hard about this.

"Hmm….well, your memory's your code, and I don't know anything about code. I'm sorry, Minty." He let out a disappointed sigh; he really thought she could help. But Pep wasn't going to let this trouble her brother more than it already had.

"Do you know anyone that could help us?" she asked. Cheri pointed to the Rock Candy Mountain, which loomed over Candy Hollow.

"Babel knows a lot about code. You could always ask her." The twins looked to the mountain and groaned. It was at least a seven minute climb up, so they'd heard. And Babel hadn't made her home up there so it'd have a nice view; it was intended to not be around everybody else. She wasn't known to be sociable, but they were willing to take their chances. They were about to head off, when…

"Attention: the arcade is about to open." All the racers in Candy Hollow looked to Sour Bill, who was standing over the valley. "All racers on the racers to the starting line." His voice was completely flat, but he was loud. Racers started to head to their karts. Cheri let out a sigh.

"Well, that's my cue to leave." She hopped into her Cherriot. "Goodbye, Pep and Mi—Oh, I almost forgot." She looked to Pep. "Princess Vanellope felt so bad about not having you two on the roster for the rest of yesterday, she's offering you a spot for today. "

"Even though we weren't there for the Random Roster Race?" Minty asked eagerly. Pep put an arm in front of his brother to stop him.  
"Minty, you can't go out there, not with what happened last time." Both of them knew these dreams of Turbo were influencing his driving, and not in a good way. Even though the two Turbos were different, they both had a need for speed. "I'll go in your place; you can go and hike to Babel's, okay?"

"He's lucky," Cheri chuckled. "Babel didn't get on the roster today." Then, she drove off. Pep waved good-bye and left for their kart as well. Minty looked to Rock Candy Mountain and gave a loud gulp; this was going to be a long climb. It took him a good ten minutes to climb up to Babel's cave home. It would've been shorter, but Minty's fear of heights never would've helped. He looked around for the cotton candy racer, and spotted her on a bed of the same stuff. He came over to her, and shook her shoulder, waking her up.

"Huh…?" Babel got up and looked around. Her eyes fell on the lone Peppermint Twin. "What're you doing up here?" Her tone would've been terse, but she was still waking up.

"Well, I had some questions about code." That reply woke her up; her face was now alert, and slightly angered. She started to walk towards him, forcing Minty to step away. He noticed they were nearing the entrance of the cave; any more steps and he'd fall down the mountain.

"What exactly do you want to know? I'm not going to give what little I know to just anyone."

"It's just…um…. Is there any way that someone could remember things if they got unplugged from another arcade?"

"Oh." Any anger she now had was gone; she pulled Minty and herself back from the edge of the cave a little. "That's different. Well, I know that if one cabinet were unplugged from one arcade, and plugged back in the same day, the sprites could go back if they left, unharmed. Even if they did leave with their game, they'd still have their memories, since it was the same arcade. Still, it might take something to trigger them, like an item they left behind, or-!"

"Wait a minute…" Something sounded wrong there, and Minty stopped just to question her about it. "'Item they left behind'? I thought when a reset or unplug happens, everything gets reset." Babel shook her head.

"That's not exactly true. A reset would occur if something was broken in the game, like code, and something fixed it. Like in the Sugar Rush games, if a glitched racer were to cross the finish line, any damage done to code, scenery, or memory would be fixed. The same thing happens if a cabinet is plugged into a different system. If things were being built or written, like the cupcake houses and Malty's dia—!" She gasped in realization. "Wait, I think I got something to help you."

They went over near the edge of the cave again. Babel pointed to a house in Candy Hollow, one that had window frames made of straws and shutters made of whipped cream. She explained, "That's Malty's house; I know she keeps a diary because she said she'd write about her first race win." A smile spread across her face. "Maybe there's something about this other arcade…" But her face soon became indifferent again. "Or maybe you're just going insane."

Babel walked back over to her bed; Minty took a stumble back from the edge. He turned back to Babel only to see she was near a bunch of levers, which resembled rock candy on sticks. She pulled down one colored blue and between the levers and the bed, a slide had appeared. Minty got closer to it to get a better look; it winded down all the way to the bottom. Unfortunately, he was so close, Babel couldn't help but push him down the slide.

"Good luck!" she shouted. When he got down to the bottom, he landed behind both Candy Hollow and Rock Candy Mountain. He ran back to the little village, and then to Malty's house. It was a little bit bigger on the inside, like all of the homes there. It had a sofa, bed, and bookshelf. It was no-brainer to where Minty headed first. After a minute of looking through unmarked books, it occurred to him that a diary, something filled with private information, was probably hidden somewhere else.

Desperate now for answers, he pulled off pillows and sheets of the nearby bed, and found a key. He then felt around pillows and cushions of the sofa. His hands grabbed onto the book, but it was locked. Thankfully, he had the key and then opened it. When he looked at the first date, he felt a spark in his mind. Though he was still reading through the entries for clues, in the back of his head, he was starting to remember things.


	6. Unlocked Memories

_June 15__th__-Today is when we first got plugged in! I'm really getting along with this one racer, Sue…_

Turbo had looked through most of the castle, making sure the princess didn't see him snooping around. He had checked every room at his access, and he found himself back where he'd began, the throne room. He knew that this was the main place of _Sugar Rush Unlimited, _so that meant a code room wasn't far away. He looked around the throne room again, but his yellow eyes fell back on the curtain, behind Vanellope's throne. Maybe there was something behind it?

He didn't even hesitate to look; the code room was his only chance to get into this racing game. What little he knew about coding, he learned from Sonic the Hedgehog. He didn't question what the Blue Blur knew about code. Like Sonic had told him that day, "_What could possibly go wrong?_" Turbo moved the velvet curtain out of his way and found himself in a room not fit for the game. It was an all-white corridor, with blue veins running down to a strange door. The door looked like an old console controller; he hoped the code he had from Sonic would still work on a newer system.

He typed in the code, which had stayed with him in his memory; up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, START. The door opened, leading to a black void. In the center, was a bunch of boxes, all linked together by various strings. Turbo wasn't afraid to jump right in. The void was like space, allowing him to float around. He eventually made it to the outer rim of the code web, and he started searching for one specific box. He then saw it: "Visiting Code," one of the few boxes colored red. He opened it, and found his code box, the only one in there at the moment. He pulled it out, and his own character code expanding to a much larger box. He carefully dragged it through the tangled mess, hoping it wouldn't snag the web.

Near the middle, he came to various characters' code boxes. Considering the game just plugged in, it would be easy to assume another character's identity. He looked around, and his eyes set on two boxes stuck together by a thin string. One box read "Pep" and the other "Minty," the string across from them signifying some family relationship; they were twins.

Turbo always envied the Twins' closeness, and figured having a relationship like that would be wonderful. He then noted the portraits on the boxes; Pep was a girl, and Minty was a boy. He began to fuse his box and Minty's together. It hurt him a little, and he was sure it was hurting the kid he was fusing with. Sparks were flying as the boxes slowly merged together. Once the boxes were together, a shock was sent through Turbo's system; he was knocked out.

_June 16__th__- Today, some boy was found knocked out in the Candy Cane Forest. His name's Minty, I think?_

Turbo found himself at the middle of the CandyCaneForest he had discovered. He had just woken up, only to see many racers and candy people surrounding him. He growled, "What are you all lookin'-!" He stopped when he raised his hand, only to find it actually skin color and clothed in green. The crowd moved back a little when he raised his fist, but then he realized he was Minty now; he had to play it cool. He got up, and looked at the racers and candies around him, so he could get a feel for them all.

"Brother!" someone yelled, and Minty looked around for them. They were in the back of the crowd, but they were pushing their way through. A redhead racer with curly hair and wearing a white vest came forward; he recognized her as Pep. She immediately gave Minty a hug. She exclaimed, "I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Um," he pushed her away, not to be rude, but he saw it confused her. "What happened exactly?"

"I dunno," she replied, looking around. "Did anyone see him about?" A little lollipop candy raised her tiny hand, and came forward. Pep leaned down to talk to it, but all Minty heard between them was gibberish. It was like talking to Q*bert all over again. Once they were done, Pep looked back to her twin. "She said you were walking when she saw static coming from you. That's when she saw you faint, she got some friends, and then I came as fast as I could."

Both of the twins sighed. For Minty, this was too much to take in. For now, he just wanted to race. Pep saw this pain, and thought he needed to take his mind off the incident. She put a hand on his shoulder, and asked, "Do you want to take a drive." He just shook his head.

"No." While the crowd looked bewildered, Minty gave a grin. "I want to race." Pep laughed, and the two made their way out of the crowd, down to the race track.

_June 20__th__- Today is the start of summer and a lot of younger players came to our cabinet…_

Minty came speeding down the track, a teen girl playing as the candy cane racer. Turbo had to admit, it was strange being controlled by a player after not doing so for five years. She caught him a sugar rush power up, bringing him to second place. He just had to make it past Orbetta. Pep was acting as a rear-view mirror, looking over to see who was coming. Fortunately, the player could hear her too.

"Cheri!" Pep gasped, and the player noticed the sighted racer coming up on her right. The player swerved quickly, crashing the Double Mint Dragster into the Cherriot. Luckily, the dragster was able to get past, and sped past Orbetta. Once they crossed the finish line, Minty gave a triumphant thumbs-up. _That never gets old,_ he thought. He then received his trophy and gave another thumbs-up, to the sky. While it showed _Race Again? _to the player, Minty got down from the podium and came over to his sister.

"Pep, we did it!" He gave her a hug. His sister gave a smile.

"Yeah, we did!" she agreed. She stumbled back, ending the hug. "I can't believe we've been such a great team!"

"What do you mean?" he chuckled nervously. Turbo thought, _Does she doubt that I'm her twin?_ His nervousness faded away when she simply smiled.

"It's just that you're so outgoing, and I'm so shy. You're connected with the racers, I'm connected with nature. You've shown we might have our differences, but there's no doubt we can succeed!" The twins smiled at each other.

"You're right, Pep," Minty agreed. He looked back at the trophy. "And you know what?" He took a pair of goggles off and handed them to his twin. "You can race for the rest of the day."

"That's great, Minty," she nodded her head. "You can go admire your trophy some more." Though it was meant to be a little quip, he was actually admiring his trophy. It was his first win since he got here, and the game put the name and date and everything on it! Oh, it was great how far video games had come. He was so busy in his own little world he almost didn't hear his sister. "Minty! The next race is starting!"

"C-coming!" he stammered. He placed his trophy with the rest of the day's winnings. As he came over, he wondered if his trophy would get stolen. But his worries didn't last long; they were pretty trustworthy kids!

_September 15__th__- Things have died down since most young players are going to school. Still, it's been three months and…._

"We did it!" Pep carried two trophies in her hands, coming into the house. She immediately put them under her bed. "Two wins today!" Minty came into the house as well, but he was definitely less enthusiastic. Ever since she had told him about their basic traits as opposing twins, he had stayed in line of what she stated. Being popular was easy when he was Turbo, but now that the old racer had "mysteriously disappeared," it was easy to get that back. When you were the first new racing game in five years, you were a celebrity upon arrival.

He watched as Pep embraced the fame, and became more confident through it. Her shyness lessened, she dropped some of her "stranger" hobbies, and became just as good as racing as her brother. He even once heard mention of "Turbo-tastic" in comparison to her. He wasn't jealous, but he felt guilty in influencing her. It wasn't in a bad way, but he liked her more with her quirks and original personality. Turbo had to tell her, because she'd grown to respect her, no matter who she was.

"Hey, Pep, I-I think we need to talk." She turned back to him, with a smile. Usually their "talks" had been confidence boosts. Other times, they were just conversations, over walking, repairing karts, or sometimes just driving. But Minty was frowning, and Pep soon knew this wouldn't be one of their regular talks.

"What's wrong, Minty?" She put a hand on his shoulder. "Remember that I'm always here you, and I'm you're sister. You could tell me anything." He let out a long sigh, and then knew it was best to tell her the truth.

"I'm Turbo, and I took over your brother's body." His eyes welled up with tears. "I just couldn't stand the thought of never racing again. I got so desperate…I…" He pushed her away and covered his face to hide his blubbering. "I h-had to get in! Th-there wasn't a-a way in a-as m-myself! So I g-got into the code and…." He took his hands away from his face and gestured to his body. "H-here I am." Turbo waited for a response from his "sister."

Pep was frozen for a moment, and her face was blank. She didn't know how to react to all of this information. When she first came to this arcade, she'd try to look for mysteries to solve, but this was the most difficult one yet. Why wouldn't Vanellope let him in? How did he get into the code? Even then, how did he manage to change it? All these questions in her head, she did something completely unexpected: she hugged him.

Now crying more as he waited, Turbo wiped away his tears to respond. "Wait…wh-what? You're not angry?"

"No, never…I've heard stories….that you were so tired of sitting around…" Pep sighed. "I heard you killed yourself just because you had nowhere to go…no purpose anymore. I wish I had known the truth, because you've been a fantastic brother." Minty smiled, but it turned back to a frown soon enough.

"What makes you say that?" he scoffed. "I've been a lying, disguised cheat of a racer."

"Well, I'm sure if you were my real brother, we'd still be opposites." Pep broke the hug, just so she could look him in the eye. "Sure, we'd be twins through it all, but how close would we be if we had nothing in common."

"Oh, you'd still have racing."

"Yeah, and we're both fantastic at that."

Minty gave a snicker and replied, "Don't you mean 'Turbo-tastic'?" His voice sounded exactly like he remembered. His sister giggled back, "Yeah, that too."

_September 30__th__- It's the end of another exciting month here, and Sue and I have won another race today…._

Turbo sighed as he came down the walkway out of his new game, Pep following him. He was carrying a box of mint cookies, and was heading to two characters sitting on a station bench. Suddenly, he felt an arm on his shoulder; it was his sister.

"I don't know if I can do this. They…they don't know me." He turned back to her, frowning. After she found out he was using Minty as a skin, she was a little nervous around others with him. She was afraid others would find out…but to be honest, he wasn't sure why she was so scared. But he knew she could keep a secret, no matter how controversial it was. He held her chin up with a free hand and smiled.

"Hey, they're gonna love you. And if they don't, at least they'll love me. Now, time for the new twins to meet the old twins." He wasn't afraid to run up to the twins sitting on the bench in his new form. Pep quietly followed, though she had her cookies held tight to her chest. Minty greeted, "Hey, boys, I got a gift for you." He pulled out the tin of cookies and gave it to them. They stared at it oddly before one of them moved a finger across his neck. Minty scoffed, "Poisoned? No, they're not gonna hurt ya. Seriously, guys, you act as if I hate y-!" It then hit him when he looked down at his sweater. "Oh, that's right, you don't know it's me. Well, take a look at this." He made a signature thumbs up from before and stood firm. Suddenly, he started to glitch red.

"T-**t-**_t-__**t**_-Turbo-tastic!" His body flickered and warped to his original colors, of red white and grey. With the gift confirming it (the twins always had a sweet tooth) they both hugged him, as he turned back to Minty. Pep was now close to them, and gave a shy wave as the twins looked over. Turbo pointed to her as they released him from the hug. "And this is my 'sister,' Pep. I'm a twin now, just like you guys!" They both gave a thumbs-up to him.

"Hello," she greeted as she gave them the cookies.

"Yeah, I made two tins," Minty explained, "just so you guys wouldn't fight over 'em." Both pairs of twins ate cookies and told stories as they caught up. When the Turbo Twins "talked," Minty translated for Pep, since she didn't really know sign language. She learned through the rest of the chat, and by the end of the day, the two sets of twins felt better about themselves.

_ October 30__th__-My friends and I are choosing something to wear for Halloween, a whole holiday with candy…_

Turbo actually had some knitting knowledge that he had taken from Minty's code. He was using this to make outfits that Pep and he would wear for Halloween. But first, they'd have to agree on something to wear. After the races were over, and they'd gotten into next day's roster, they shot around some ideas for what to wear.

"How about kittens?" Minty asked.

Pep scoffed, "That's too cutesy. No one would take you seriously after that."

"You're right," he looked kind of disappointed. He always liked cats. "Okay, do you have an idea?"

"How about zombies?" Pep made her hands into claw shapes and gnashed her teeth to illustrate it. "With realistic blood and intestines?"

Minty shook his head. "This is an E-rated game! Do you think the producers would let that fly?" After a moment of thought, he came up with another idea. "How about peanut butter and jelly jars?"

"Hmm…" Pep thought for a moment, but then answered, "No. I feel like it's been done before." She looked back to her brother. Well, he wasn't really her brother….but his true identity gave her an idea. She hopped out of her bed. "That's it! I have the perfect costumes for us." Minty nodded and got out his knitting needles.

"What are we making?" he asked. "What color?"

"We're gonna dress like the Turbo Twins! I'll go spray-paint our helmets." Pep went outside, and Minty started making the jumpsuits, from memory, using blue and grey. Pep got some grey make-up (though she didn't tell from where), and after showing off the spray-painted helmets, she spray-painted their shoes as well. Once they were done with their impressive costumes, they decided to take a vow of silence for the rest of the day, just to see how the racers would respond.

Despite their vows, the racers didn't talk that much to them. Throughout the day, they looked at the others' costumes. They noted that Princess Vanellope was a princess of the undead; they guessed zombies _were_ okay for E-rated games! With each trophy racers won, their trophies were filled to the brim with them. Pep and Minty were happy with the single trophy they'd won that day, and silently ate candy until Halloween was over.

_ December 15__th__-I know it's been a while since I've last written in here, but something horrible is going to happen to our game…._

Princess Vanellope stood on the popcorn stand podium, about to announce the proceedings of the Random Roster Race, but she looked frightened. The racers took notice of this, and murmured amongst each other. Still, the princess took a royal tone when she made the announcements.

"People of _Sugar Rush Unlimited,_ I have _grave _news." Her hands were trembling, the mike in her hands shaking. "This system has been sold to another arcade. We'll be unplugged!" The racers and candies in the grandstands gasped. Some shouted protests and others looked worried. Vanellope shouted, "Attention!" and the quarrelling ceased. All attention was back to her. "I've brought someone over from another game. She knows the full details." The princess backed away and handed the microphone over to a much taller figure.

"_Yuni?_" Minty gasped out a whisper, as he saw the _DDR_ character standing to speak. Yuni had been a long-time friend to the racer when he was Turbo, but he never really talked to her afterwards. The dancer told them, "I saw that the game was bought by an older man, named Stan Litwak. He owns another arcade in a town nearby, and said he needed another racing system since his old one was drawing in a lot of business recently. He offered Peter a reasonable price, nearly _double _what he bought this one for, and the deal was made." She let out a long sigh. "I feel really sorry for you guys. I was friends with another racer, one that was here before you guys showed up. I really miss him…." Minty noticed Yuni got teary-eyed as she handed the mike back to Vanellope.

"The cabinet is to be unplugged in ten days," the princess explained. "We either stay here, or go with the game and our pride. Sour Bill will ask each of you what you prefer, but until then…" she pulled a lever on the podium, revealing a slide down to her kart. "Let the Random Roster Race begin." She slid down and the race started joylessly. It ended that way as well, but everyone tried their hardest to make it into the next day's races, for they might be their last.

The Peppermint Twins hurried back to their house after getting on the roster. Both feared being unplugged, but for different reasons. Minty fretted, "Pep, I can't get unplugged _again_! I've waited_ too long_ for this chance just _to lose it __**again!**_" Pep groaned, "Minty, we have _too many trophies_ we're gonna lose!" He just gave her a glare.

"Pep, this isn't the time to obsess about trophies!" He was now shaking her by the shoulders. "That's what I did, and I ended up _without a kart!_" He let out a groan, and placed one hand on his face, the other on his hip. "Will….will my code even survive?"

"I…." Pep let out a sigh, sitting down on her bed. "I don't know, but I know we'll make the best of our last few races here." Minty smiled at that, and after seeing that his sister was still a bit disappointed, he decided to ask her something.

"Hey, how about we-!" Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Pep got up to open it, for Minty knew who it was, and dreaded it. She looked down to see Sour Bill. He was holding a pencil and clipboard, marked with each racer's name. There were checks beside every name so far, meaning that most were leaving with the game.

"Will you be leaving of staying?" he asked in his regular monotone voice. This only made the question more distressing. Pep looked back to Minty to confirm her answer to the candy ball. The brother was just waiting for her to respond, playing nervously with his fingers as he sat on the bed. Pep turned back to Bill and gave her answer.

"I think we're ready to leave," she replied, and the candy marked a check on his clipboard. He went over to the next house as Pep slammed the door, looking back to Minty nervously. She asked, "I made the decision we both wanted, right?"

He nodded. "Yes, but I wanted to ask you, do you want to go exploring in the CandyCaneForest?" Pep's eyes widened at the offer. When the game was first plugged in, she always asked Minty if he wanted to go into the woods with her. He always turned her down nicely, and she stopped asking altogether once they became more popular. Since then, her default personality faded, but now it was coming through as she smiled.

"Sure, Minty, that sounds nice." The ten days leading up to their unplugging were spent walking around in the now snow-covered forest, searching for creatures no one could ever find in a game like this. Sometimes Minty would pretend to be them, making props to look like whatever monster Pep envisioned out of nearby candy. Sometimes, their fruitless searching would devolve into Minty throwing a snowball, Pep throwing one back, and a snowball fight ensuing between the two. For those last ten days, the twins felt closer than they could've ever been with blood bonds.

_December 25__th__-This will be the last entry I make here. Maybe this diary will survive, wherever I end up…_

The _Sugar Rush Unlimited_'s game's Christmas was anything but joyful and cheerful; ominous and solemn was more like it. The bright colors seemed even duller than the winters that came. Since the arcade was closed on Christmas, all remaining racers were instructed to come to the main racetrack for a last cup of cocoa. The main racetrack was the only meeting place they had, since only a few homes had been built.

The Peppermint Twins took the mugs of hot cocoa, but hurried back to their own house. If they were going to spend their last moments in their game, they'd spend them with each other. No one gave presents out because they thought they'd lose them; it turns out the only thing that they would lose was their trophies. Once the twins were done talking, and finished with their cocoa, they held each other in a hug. Both one wanted to let go, and though it felt like forever, they could feel themselves being unplugged. It wasn't painful, but it felt like every part of you was being taken apart, only to be built together again.

But when Minty was "rebuilt," the Turbo part would be left out. Litwak would plug the system back in about a month later, only for Turbo's code to be identified as a virus. But he was still in there, trapped, and the only way out was to seep into Minty's memories….


	7. Kart Chase

Minty slammed the book and stumbled back. All these memories filled his head: memories of nearly a year ago, when the game first was plugged in. They were filled with emotions from triumph to tears. Most of the memories involved his sister, but all had one thing in common: Turbo. All of his features seemed familiar to him now: his cat-like eyes, his golden grin, and his voice…

"_Morning, kid,_" something greeted. Minty looked around for a source for it, but it was just as he had feared: _it came from his mind. _Though it was the voice he dreaded, he still asked nervously, "Wh-who are you?"

"_I'm Turbo, Minty. The racer who's been posing as you most of your life._"

"Yeah, and you're not very good at it," he grumbled. "I may be social, but I'm sort of annoying. And your knitting skills are _nothing _compared to mine!"

"_Well, aren't you quite the boaster? Maybe I am rubbing off on you a little._"

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Minty snapped, getting right to the point. An echoing chuckle filled the room, sending shivers up his spine.

"_I've finally had enough time to gain consciousness. You see, your stinkin' Surge Protector saw me as a virus, and deleted most of my code. Little did he know that if code goes with its game, it can come back. So I've regained it, after four months of bein' 'inactive.' So, how does it feel to be the newest one to go Turbo?_"

"H-how do you know that phrase?" Minty for certain, knew what it meant, but if Turbo was right, he didn't have very little memories from Game Central Station.

"_Easy, kid; our memories and code are starting to merge, like before. So, let me take full control of the steerin' here and I'll let you enjoy the ride._"

"No!" Minty headed for the door, book in tow. "I'm not letting you hurt me or Pep!" Just as he was about to reach for the doorknob, a shock was sent through him. At first, he just thought it was a static shock from the knob, but the shock stayed in his hand. It started to move up his arm. Even with the stinging pain, he tried to grab the knob again, only for it to **_glitch _**right through his hand. The pain now spreading to his chest, he got on the floor. He cried out for pain, hoping someone could hear him. He kept at it until the pain reached his face; then all could see were glitches of red.

Pep had finished up the day at the races, and finished the Roster Race in fourth place. During the day, by sheer coincidence, she chatted with Malty between races. Once the day was over, and they had bonded more, Pep helped fix Malty's Speedy Scoop after there was a bad accident. They talked as they repaired the kart together.

"So, what's been going on lately?" Malty asked, checking the straw exhaust.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Pep tensed up, though Malty couldn't see this as she was checking under the kart. She didn't want her and her brother's ordeal to catch the whole game's eye. Unfortunately, they'd asked information of the biggest blabbermouth in Sugar Rush Unlimited, and they were going to pay for it.

"Well, we knew that you pulled out of the race yesterday, and Cheri told us something about us coming from another arcade. She also said you guys asked about it. I thought maybe they had some connection. Of course, I could be wrong…."

"Yes!" Pep exclaimed, coming out from under the kart. "You are wrong, and we were….um…" She sighed, knowing if she could barely hide half the story from Cheri, she wouldn't be able to keep the whole truth from Malty. She let out a sigh, and said, "Look, I'll explain everything at your house, alright?" Malty nodded, and gave one last look over her Speedy Scoop.

"Okay, looks like we're ready to go!" she told Pep, hopping into the kart. Pep went into the shotgun seat, and they headed back for Malty's house, right in the center of Candy Hollow. When they opened the door, they noticed two shocking things were taking place. First, the power was out; second of all, it was because Minty was violently glitching just a few feet away.

"H-_he_-help m**m**_m_m**_m_**-me!" he cried as he glitched red, on his knees from the pain. Pep moved closer, but Malty held her back; she thought it might be contagious. But Pep was determined to be near her brother, especially when it was troubling to see him like this.

"Go get the princess," Pep told Malty. "I can handle him." Malty was so confused with the situation, she took to Pep's orders and dashed off. Pep then turned back to her brother. "There, now I can help with y—**_whoa!_**" She didn't know what was more alarming: that Minty's glitching had stopped, or that he was…re-colored. His hair was jet black, his eyes stained with yellow, and his skin grey. His clothing hadn't changed, only what colors they bore; white with red stripes down the middle and sides. She was afraid to ask for his name, but did anyway. "**_Turbo!?_**"

"Yeah," he answered, getting up off the floor. "What, did you think there was only _one _Turbo at this arcade?"

"Not exactly…" She staggered closer to the door. "But I didn't think my brother was linked to you. Well, not in this way."

"Did you even know about the other arcade? What I've been through?" As he asked these questions, he came closer to her. Pep was getting so nervous that she could only shake her head. "Then let me show you." Turbo extended a hand out to her, but she flinched. "C'mon, it won't hurt that much; just a lil' sting." Pep didn't know what was going to happen, but took his hand anyway. There was a shock through her fingers, and instantly, many memories of the other arcade sparked back in her mind. Although, they were only ones she and Minty shared. From there, she could fit the pieces.

"Wha-!" She blinked twice and looked back to Turbo, in rage. "So, _you_ were my brother, that _whole time?!_"

"Hey, your princess wouldn't let me into this game!" Turbo jabbed a thumb at himself. "So I got in myself!"

"I'm sure the other Turbo could testify to that too!" It then that Turbo finally understood what was happening: because the Turbo from Litwak's did the same actions, she was looking at him in the same light. He realized…how wrong that was, that the person he'd known as a sister, the one he thought he could trust, was thinking of him that way. Of course, he'd have to change that.

"Yeah, but he didn't live to tell the tale!" He pushed Pep out of the way; the house was so small, he couldn't get around her. "Now, I'm gonna settle this once and for all, in my own way!" He ran for it, and Pep soon followed after, afraid of what he would do. A few other racers in Candy Hollow gawked as the colors of Turbo passed them by, only for more red and white to follow behind. Turbo needed to get away as fast as possible, and stole the Double Mint Dragster.

"Hey!" Pep managed to keep up with the racer on foot, and now she'd have to do it by kart. She noticed Babel's kart not far from where she was standing, and figured she wouldn't have a problem with it. The shouts she heard from Rock Candy Mountain as she drove off stated otherwise. Pep drove furiously, trying to keep up with how fast Turbo was going. Luckily, both karts had similar speeds, though the handling for Turbo's was a bit off. Both were speeding to the castle, one for another, and the other one for himself.

"You have to believe me!" Malty told Princess Vanellope, finishing up her explanation at the castle. She pointed to the door to illustrate her next statement. "There is a young racer out there glitching horribly, and you need to get into the code to stop him!" The princess stood up off her throne. Even though she didn't know much about code, she was willing to help, especially with what her counterpart had been through.

"I do believe you, but-!" Just as Vanellope was about to back down, the problem came to her: the Peppermint Twins, wrestling towards the code room, came barreling through the double doors of the castle. The princess caught sight of Minty's appearance immediately, and knew something was off. She alerted, "Sour Bill!" and he came over from the corner to break up the brawl. "Grab the grey one!"

"Aw, gimme a break!" Turbo wailed, and took a break from fighting Pep to trying to get out of the sour ball's headlock. He got out of his crouched position and tried to get the little candy hands off constricting his neck. Though he was lacking muscles (and arms,) Bill was surprisingly strong. Fortunately, the racer was able to shake him off, and made a run to the code vault. Vanellope would've called more guards, but if they were going to fight in the short corridor, it would be cramped. The princess and Pep both went after him, only to find the door unlocked and Turbo swimming towards the code.

"Stop whatever you're doing!" Vanellope went further down the hallway, and stopped at the opened vault door. Pep came back too, and came so close to the princess, she almost pushed her into the void. The princess placed her hand in front of her to stop her; she looked back, and all Pep could see was worry. "I can't go in there. Minty is threatening now, but if I try to stop him, he could make too many changes. So all we can do is watch and w-!"  
"I hate to say it," Pep interrupted. Throughout the web of code, she could make out Minty and pointed to him. "That's not my brother, that's _Turbo._" The princess would've asked many questions, but she was too confused right now to ask. Both of them heard Turbo's voice as it echoed through the void; it seemed he had reached Minty's code box.

"Now, to end this once and for all…"


	8. Chapter 8

Pep and Princess Vanellope watched in a shocked silence as Turbo went into Minty's code and looked through the smaller icons. It was a jumbled mess of code; he deduced this was because of his meddling. But through this mess of information, he could see his own little square right in the middle. He snaked his arm around the other pieces, careful not to jumble his code up more, and tried to pull it out. The only thing that happened was his hand got a nasty shock. But the racer was persistent; he kept tugging at the icon, no matter how many shocks it sent.

Pep and the princess watched from afar as Turbo started glitching red. Pretty soon, he had grabbed out something from Minty's code, and they saw he was _in his original form!_ Pep shouted, "You got rid of Minty's coding!" and was ready to pound Turbo out of existence. Luckily, Vanellope held her back; she didn't know what the old racer would do if she attacked. The little box in his hand grew into a regular-sized box, then one bigger than every other box. The girls could make out the name on the box from there: _Turbo. _

"That's right," he stated, starting to move the box far away from the others, "I never really wanted to be a part of this game. But because your princess wouldn't let me," He pointed to Vanellope with a grey hand, "I decided to take matters into my own hands. I know it seems selfish, but _you_ see how much_ fun_ it is when you're unplugged and you can't race."

"The older one'll probably be unplugged first," Pep muttered to herself, and she continued to listen to Turbo's rant. He had dragged the code box

"After this game was unplugged, I was almost wiped out by your stupid Surge Protector. Sure, they're designed to keep all games safe, but when I was thought of to be a _threat_, I was ticked. I started to rebuild myself, into Minty's code, but there was still one thing missing: a body. So I took over your brother's body in hopes I could go back to normal. But, I didn't, and now…" He looked at his hands, and sighed. "I realize I'm no better than the other one." By now, he was right in front of Pep and Vanellope. He placed a hand on his former sister's shoulder. "Your brother should be outside….somewhere."

It was incredible how fast Turbo took to run out of the castle. He pushed past Vanellope, out of the corridor, and out of the castle without a second thought. Pep and the princess went after him, only to see they'd left Malty behind….to summon the guards. The Oreo guards were about to move out, Malty shouting, "Get that thing! Stop it!"

"Guards!" They all stopped once they heard Vanellope. "Do not hurt that racer! He is free to do as he pleases," she countered. She gave a little smirk to herself when the guards went back to their usual posts; after all, her orders could directly overpower her citizens'. Pep turned to Vanellope, confused by the order.

"But what about him messing with the code?"

"What he did was for the greater good," she replied, turning to the mint-themed racer. "Besides, Turbo reversed the damage that he did. Now, if I remember his speech correctly," the princess patted Pep on the back, giving a smile, "you have a twin to find." _She was right, _the lone twin thought, _my brother's out there somewhere…._ She took her kart back and instructed Malty to tell Babel she "borrowed" her kart. Pep then began to search the game for Minty; at the main track, a few of the other tracks he'd be good at, and for the last location, she finally headed home.

She was amazed, relieved, and partially frustrated to find her twin brother sleeping safely in his bed. She came over to him and pushed his right arm a little; she was startled when he jolted up.

"Wha—!" He looked in many directions until his eyes landed on Pep. He hugged her, and in a quivering tone, he said, "P-Pep, I had the most _awful _dream! Turbo_ was_ real, and he took over my body! And he went into the code, and-!" He felt tears streaming down his cheeks. "_Please tell me it __**wasn't real!**_" Pep had searched for the truth all her life, and this one thing may be the only one that was true. But she was willing to spare his pain by lying. She released from the hug and went over to her own bed.

"They were all just dreams, Minty," she replied, "go back to sleep."

The next two weeks were hard on those who experienced Turbo's arrival firsthand: The Peppermint Twins, Vanellope, and Malty. The Twins kept to themselves that week, which was strange for Minty especially. Malty was the same; though she had a small ring of friends, she was shy even around them. Vanellope didn't know what to do. Usually, she hung out with her counterpart from _Sugar Rush, _but this was a time when she didn't want to do anything, not even run a country.

The Peppermint Twins got back to their normal lives in a week, but Pep was about to experience another bump in the road. She was driving back from a Roster Race, while Minty stayed behind to talk to the racers. She was out driving in the CandyCaneForest, looking for the next big adventure. All of a sudden, she saw a bit of red and white that was a little…off. The fact that it was sitting on a log did not help to camouflage it. Pep got out of the kart and ran over to the log; to be honest, she was surprised he was still here.

"Turbo?!" Pep was stunned to find him here. He didn't answer immediately, as he was licking down a candy cane stick to a point. _Must be his lunch, _she thought. He appeared rather bored with it, probably because candy wouldn't be a big part of his main diet. Once he was done licking down the stick, he inspected the point and finally replied.

"Yeah, I decided to stay out here and re-explore the place. It gets boring the second time. Then, I decided to come back here," He let out a long sigh and looked to Pep. "And end my life."

"_What?!_" It was not unheard of for a game character to die, on accident, but suicide was nearly a myth. She pleaded, "Turbo, you can't end your life right now!"

"_Why shouldn't I?!_" he snapped, jumping up. "My own _name _is now a _horror story_ thanks to some pride-driven **_lunatic_** that doesn't even deserve to be called **_TURBO!_**" If I go out there," he pointed the sharp stick in a vague place to the left, "_they'll_ think I'm the old one. Even if it _does_ get to them, they'll probably judge me!"

"Could you stay with us," Pep suggested, desperate for him not to end his life.

"Oh, _sure,_" Turbo snarked, "and then go crazy _again!_ Seriously, I went **_insane _**over the five years I went without racing, and it led to _this,_" He motioned to the land around him, "And me becoming your brother. Ugh, well, at least someone will know I died instead of going alone." Pep didn't want to be there, but she didn't want to be there, but she didn't want him to die alone. She knew she couldn't change his opinion on this, not now, but he might as well be happy when he died.

Pep then realized why he was sharpening the peppermint stick when he stabbed it into his chest. He let out a groan, and fell to his knees. She saw blood surround the wound, and then drip onto the ground. But on closer inspection, it was something else. She crouched down and stated, "Those are red pixels."

"Yep," he chuckled nervously, clutching his hurting chest with both hands. "Makes more sense than blood since I'm just a game ch-chhhhh-!" His voice turned into static and he started to glitch. He went from on his knees to flat on his face, the stick now stabbing all the way through his body.

"Turbo!" Pep let him die, but didn't know this would happen. She came over to him and pulled out the stick. She turned him over to see his face, and almost jumped in shock from it; his eyes were wide open, and he had a smile that said "Turbo-tastic!" He started to glitch again, his face flickering to 8-bit, quite possibly 16-bit, and she saw a little bit of Minty's face near the end. She closed up his eyes and mouth, though he was still smiling. The glitching began to spread to her; she let out a yelp of pain, and threw the racer's glitching corpse. When it hit the ground, it exploded with a ***vworp*** and a barrage of glitches and pixels. Pep sighed, realizing what she was done: the racer and his tale were no more.


	9. Epilogue

Vanellope never really got over the entire incident; after all, her main concern as princess was her people. She was worried that someone would change the code, with malevolent intentions. To keep this from happening, she thought of learning the secrets of code. She didn't ask for anyone's help in learning, since she feared they would ask why. So, she tried to teach herself. Sour Bill held the licorice rope that was around the princess' waist, and she went to the code web that was in the void.

She started by looking a few of the tracks; Sugar Rush, the one that went around it as a whole, the Cakeway track, right near part of the main track, and Sweet Sand Gulch, a track paved over the old Kart Factory. From there, she went to the characters. They were near the center of the code, since the characters make the game, not the other way around. Her own code was at the heart, and there was Orbetta, Monty, Almonda, Turbo…

_Wait, Turbo? _She thought, the name still fresh in her mind from the past few weeks. The code box was set apart from the others in many ways: It was bigger, coming from a simpler time for games, it was red, unlike the blues, pinks and purples of Sugar Rush coding, and it was not lit up. Vanellope could piece together why it wasn't lit up; he wasn't alive. She didn't know how to "jump-start" his code, or even why it was still here if he was dead, but she would wait…and maybe bring him back.

_(Author's Note: Sorry this is not on the last chapter, and is so short. I just wanted something that doesn't leave Turbo's death the end of the story. I hope this wraps things up. Goodbye my faithful readers, until the next adventure!)_


End file.
